ST. Thomas USVI Travel????

NedRN · Apr 23, 2014

Don't do it. It's awful. I lived there 6 months, July 2013-Dec and worked at RLS for a terrible 7 weeks as staff-stupidly. It's nothing like the States. Conditions, culture, your safety there as a statesider, mosquitos, humidity, road conditions, so, so, many ghettos, the constant fear of being robbed or worse, etc. I found myself not wanting to venture outside of our 2 mile radius area where most the statesiders live. Do not live anywhere near the hospital! It's dangerous and scary to non-West Indians. St John is much nicer and cleaner, we spent every weekend there. St Thomas is ghetto and dangerous. The murder and poverty rates are the highest in the US and as a Statesider, you are a target. Don't do it!!

And yet a lot of travelers spend over a year there because they love it so much.

lking.954 · Jun 30, 2014

I am a new RN grad, taking my NCLEX in a few weeks, and I would like to move to the USVI to work as an RN for a few years. Do any of the hospitals take new grads? Does anyone know if any travel nursing companies hire new grads? I have not found any that do. I have previous experience as a nurse tech in a level-1 trauma center ED, and I spent a year living in central africa working in an emergency sexual health clinic. I lived with no electricity or running water, and the clinic I worked at had very minimal supplies. Although I understand that the USVI will be very different from that, I think my previous experience adapting to an entirely new environment would serve me well moving to the USVI. Lastly, I heard that some of the nurses were not getting paid who worked down in the USVI because a hospital was going broke? Is this true? Or was that the grapevine twisting the truth? I have already done a lot of research on my own about working there and moving there, and I would really like to make this happen! If anyone has any advice I would greatly appreciate it!

NedRN · Jun 30, 2014

Travelers wouldn't know or care about new grad intake, I would call the hospitals and ask. I'm not sure about St Croix, but St Thomas is very slow to pay travel companies. I've never heard that they missed their own payroll but if they did, they would probably be out of business. Employees take priority over all other creditors.

No, agencies are not going to hire new grads. 10 years ago, there were some programs to do that requiring a 2 to 3 year commitment, but there is little difference between that and working directly for a hospital.

My recommendation to you is to get an internship at a major teaching hospital. In a couple of years, you can go staff at almost any hospital of your choosing. USVI will not be a good learning environment for a new nurse even if they will hire you.

lking.954 · Jun 30, 2014

Travelers who have worked in those hospitals might know if the hospitals accept new grads..... I am not sure why you would say they wouldn't? SOME might not know, including you, but that doesn't mean all travel nurses don't know or care. Someone who has worked in that hospital would surely know if someone new starts working on their floor and is a new grad or not.

BonnieSc · Jun 30, 2014

No, I agree--you're unlikely to get reliable information from a traveler. Even staff nurses, you'll find once you are one, often aren't in the know about hiring. Ask around all you want, but I wouldn't trust anything that doesn't come straight from the hospital.

I think you're right that your previous non-nursing experience in Africa will serve you well when it comes to taking non-traditional assignments, wherever your career path ends up taking you, but getting a solid foundation in a standard US hospital is almost certainly the best thing for your future goals.

NedRN · Jul 1, 2014

Travelers who have worked in those hospitals might know if the hospitals accept new grads..... I am not sure why you would say they wouldn't? SOME might not know, including you, but that doesn't mean all travel nurses don't know or care. Someone who has worked in that hospital would surely know if someone new starts working on their floor and is a new grad or not.

Great debate. Let's not talk to the hospital to see if they might hire you, it is much more interesting and challenging to see if you can locate someone who might have heard something.

What I do know about such hospitals as the USVI is that they are about a thousand times more likely to hire a current traveler to go staff, someone who has not only worked out clinically but has proven that they can tolerate living on a small island, than a new grad with an attitude.

lking.954 · Jul 1, 2014

I think you have misinterpreted my tone. I thought this was just a discussion forum, and all I wanted to know was if anyone had any experience working with new grads in the usvi. I HAVE contacted the hospitals. I was not under the assumption you were a human resource recruiter, I just wanted to know what peoples' general experiences have been. That is all. I am not here for an argument, just here to to have a friendly discussion. Cheers!

NedRN · Jul 1, 2014

I'm quite confused (perhaps not unusually). Your initial post specifically asked if the USVI hires new grads. This last post says you have contacted the hospitals. What did they say? I'm not poking you, I really would like to know.

While it would make a cute story to start your career in the USVI, it is not a good start or foundation to your career even if they accept you as a new grad. Both you and the USVI will be better off if you receive good training at a good hospital with deep resources on the mainland, then you can go to the USVI with skills and a knowledge base of value to share with them.

Proper timing of your bucket list is very important.

lking.954 · Jul 1, 2014

Honestly, all I really wanted to know if any travel nurses had worked with new grads as travel nurses, or had worked with new grads while doing their travel nursing in the usvi. That is all I wanted. I will try to find out answers somewhere else. Thank you for you opinions, and happy nursing!

NedRN · Jul 1, 2014

As you can see, it can be very hard to get good replies on a forum even with a direct question. It would be great if you could add to this thread by telling us what the hospitals told you. So far we have no idea if your plan has any chance of success. I'm not sure if you care about the opinions of actual travelers or not, but you are more likely to get responses with some dialog, not just open ended questions.

I have worked on St Thomas and so have a number of other posters on this thread. Any thoughts on what has been said either directly to you or in other conversations? A real exchange of information and ideas is what makes a forum valuable to the entire community.

Sandhiller · Oct 2, 2014

I worked down in VI for a little over a year. It's a trade off and like most jobs and situations it is what you make of it. They are low on money so we took turns buying pt supplies at Kmart for the patients that couldn't bring them in. Our supervisor at that time was a dry alcoholic so tended to be gruff abrupt and direct so a thick skin was nice. Her knowledge didn't run to high tech ICU care but on the other hand she was a hard worker. I do know that you worked hard in ER, better staffed in ICU and stay away from Med/ Surg and the nursing homes there. The trade off was GREAT WATER, SCUBA DIVING AND DOWN TIME. Just couldn't compare. I also found the natives to be for the most part kind and courteous if you were the same. Ran into a couple of hostile racial incidents but I am definitely up for that and handled it. The facilities are older and not as posh. Work was tolerable and the down time great. Depends on what you are willing to put up with and trade off.

Wolf at the Door, BSN · May 29, 2015

Allowed to bring small pets?